Chapter 830: Chapter 830

With the roaring of engines, a fierce blaze burst forth a dazzling brilliance, and the massive warplane hovering in the air slowly descended.

Standing on the platform, the officer leapt forward, vaulting over the fence. He plummeted from a height of dozens of meters, crashing onto the ground and shattering the ceramic tiles below, creating a thunderous noise.

A few uniformed mercenaries approached, the leader lifting up a coat and draping it over the officer.

On the other side, one mercenary handed a freshly cut cigar to the officer and a third quickly came over, striking a match to light the cigar.

The officer took a puff of the cigar, looked up at the descending warplane, exhaled a puff of smoke, and slowly began, "Have you spoken with the investigative team?"

The howling wind blew away the smoke.

"Communication has been established. We’ve shown the permits we got from United Industries and confirmed our identities. But,"

The mercenary who handed over the cigar spoke quickly, pausing slightly, "It seems they’re not pleased about United Industries hiring a mercenary corps like ours."

"That’s Ains’s antique attitude,"

The officer sneered, "They pride themselves on being the Federation itself, still dreaming that the Federation tightly controls all the cities."

The distant warplane was about to land, its landing gear already unfolded.

"Let’s go meet these ’Federation representatives.’"

Cigar still in mouth and wearing a broad coat, a smirk formed on his face as he walked along the ground markings toward the gradually descending warplane.

With a soft sound, the tightly closed door of the warplane flipped downwards, unfolding into a silvery gray gangway extending to the ground.

Autonomous carts prepared on both sides came driving over, blocking the gangway.

Reaching the foot of the gangway, the officer glanced at the brightly lit cabin door that opened. Under that light, no one emerged.

The door stayed open, as if waiting for something.

Just then, a mercenary following behind the officer looked at his wrist device, his expression changing instantly.

The officer turned around, looking back at the mercenary.

The mercenary’s expression was grim, "They want you to board the plane to meet them."

"These old fools still want to show us who’s boss,"

Another mercenary quickly said, "Why not just blow up this plane and send them off?"

The officer chuckled, removing the cigar from his mouth, exhaling a puff of smoke, "Since he wants me to go up and meet, let’s just meet."

He gently raised his hand, and the coat naturally fell off, caught by a mercenary behind him.

"Ains’s old men have always looked down on us mercenaries without affiliation,"

Thick smoke billowed from his mouth, "Some arrogance is to be expected."

He stepped onto the first step of the gangway.

Just then, a dark sphere was thrown from among the ground crew on the other side.

A bright flash illuminated the entire night.

In that instant, the vast majority of the people nearby lost their ability to see.

"Flash bomb! It’s a flash bomb!"

"Be careful! Protect the Captain!"

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!! They’re hiding among the airport ground staff!"

"Fire back immediately! Fire back immediately!"

Chaotic voices came from below the warplane.

Along with these voices, there were also intense gunfire and the booming of grenades.

Almost in an instant, flames and explosions filled the entire space.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation! Watch out for these mercenaries from United Industries! They are from the Eternal Secret Teachings!"

A loud, slightly echoing shout resounded in the dark space, seemingly coming from a powerful loudspeaker.

The officer remembered this voice, although he had never met its owner, he had seen the owner’s profile.

It was the voice of Gast, the head of the Wint City Federal Bureau of Investigation department.

However, he did not respond to the voice.

Violent gunshots and explosions rose and fell behind him.

He clenched his cigar, never once looked back, and ascended step by step along the gangway.

Cloud District・Mayor’s Mansion

"What are you doing?"

A mercenary officer, a cigarette dangling from his lips, gripped a submachine gun hanging at his chest, his gaze icy as he stared at the corpulent, bald man in a slightly tight suit in front of him.

"I’m here to deliver documents to the Mayor’s Mansion, I sent a message but got no reply."

The man shrank his neck, trembling as he handed over the documents.

"The Mayor’s Mansion is sealed off, leave the documents and go back."

The mercenary officer stretched out his hand to half snatch the documents from the man’s hands.

The man stuttered, "This needs to be given to the mayor..."

The mercenary officer lifted his submachine gun, cocked the bolt with a crisp metallic sound, and stared coldly at the man before him, "Didn’t you hear what I said?"

The man scrambled backward, tumbling into a car on the street.

The mercenary officer fired a series of shots into the sky with a laugh, "Spineless creature."

He casually threw the documents to a nearby mercenary, "Throw it in that destruction box, we’ll burn it all later."

Then he removed the cigarette from his mouth, exhaled a puff of smoke, and surveyed the surroundings.

Dense groups of mercenaries had surrounded the entire Mayor’s Mansion, directly blocking the road and setting up a post every fifteen meters, using iron barricades to form three layers, enclosing the entire Mayor’s Mansion.

Between the posts, several soldiers in exoskeleton armor patrolled in turns.

Behind the three-layer barricades were several mini laser air-defense cannons. Inside the Mayor’s Mansion, machine guns and cannons were also faintly visible.

"The captain told us to watch out for an attack, I said he was too cautious,"

The mercenary officer, cigarette in hand, took another drag and looked into the dark depths behind him. Turning to a nearby mercenary, he chuckled, "Look, who would dare to attack us? Who can attack us?"

The nearby mercenary subconsciously nodded in agreement.

But at that instant, several dark spheres were tossed into the sky, illuminating the entire night with a brilliant light.

"Enemy raid! It’s an enemy raid! Counterattack! Be alert!!!"

Amid explosions and frantic roars, two giant pure white mechas emerged from the sky and charged towards the deepest parts of the Mayor’s Mansion.

Dazzling light streaked across the sky, and the heavy laser cannons targeted the huge objects in the sky.

The mechas in the sky raised their hands, and the dazzling laser cannons flashed, instantly destroying several mini air-defense cannons on the ground.

At that moment, several mercenaries fitted with mechanized bodies charged into the sky towards the mechas firing the laser cannon.

Simultaneously, three dark Hell Apostle Mechs emerged from the shadows, wielding giant swords as they attacked the two pure white mechas in the sky.

Meanwhile, another mecha had drawn the giant sword from its back.

With one strike, it smashed the airborne mechanized mercenaries, and then its body suddenly surged forward, meeting the leading Hell Apostle Mech’s giant sword.

But at that moment, another nearby Hell Apostle immediately raised its sword towards his back, while the Hell Apostle Mech in front of him raised the laser cannon aimed at his chest.

A radiant light illuminated the sky for an instant.

A brilliant light flashed beside the fighting pure white mecha—it was his teammate behind him firing the plasma cannon.

The cannon instantly penetrated the high-energy battery of the Hell Apostle Mech in front of him.

Accompanied by a roaring explosion and fierce flames, the Mecha suddenly drew its sword back, using one hand to block a stealth attack from another Hell Apostle Mech, and extended its Plasma Cannon.

Another explosion sounded, accompanied by dazzling brilliance, as the pure white Mech emerged from the flames.

The two white Mechs simultaneously raised their heads, looking towards the last Hell Apostle Mech in the sky.

"Just like you guessed, they didn’t deploy a lot of mercenaries and Mechas here, but it seems you indeed wiped out United Industries’ elites last time,"

Sitting in the Mech cockpit, Vili reached out to touch the intercom, "Even if they could scrape together spare Mechas, they couldn’t gather elite mechanical drivers."

Her hand pulled the joystick, focusing on the last Mech, "Take down this last guy, break through with the Twilight Society, and we should be able to enter the Mayor’s Mansion and rescue Uncle Endir."

"The Security Union can only hold off the main force of the Mercenary Corps for a short while, we don’t have much time. Don’t underestimate them."

The young man’s raspy voice sounded in the headset.

Vili nodded slightly and pulled the joystick again.

The two pure white Mechs also moved forward simultaneously, facing the Hell Apostle Mech in the sky.

Intense flames blossomed in the sky.

A tight encirclement was breached.

Storm Zone·Temporary Cathedral

"Charge, charge, charge! Kill these heretics, hahaha!"

Accompanied by the lead strongman’s angry shout, a group of figures instantly rushed into the Temporary Cathedral.

In the cathedral, the White Robe Priests, after a brief moment of astonishment, quickly reacted, raising their pendants emitting golden glows in their hands, clashing with the intruding figures.

Blood splattered across the old bricks and merged into the multi-layered rust of old iron sheets.

"Hahaha, thrilling! What a thrill to kill!"

The Dagger strongman stabbed to death a White Robe Priest who hadn’t completely activated his pendant yet, with orange patterns starting to appear on his body, "Killing these heretics is too exhilarating!"

With another thrust, he sliced through the body of a nearby White Robe Priest, then he looked ahead at the lead strongman entangled with two priests in golden armor, and charged at them, slamming into the two priests and knocking them apart.

The lead strongman quickly transformed his hand into a golden spear, stabbing and killing one priest, then swung and shattered the other priest’s golden armor.

The Dagger strongman immediately rushed forward, stabbing the remaining priest to death, then turned around, looked at the lead strongman behind him with a laugh,

"Boss, I’ll cover you, you head deeper into the cathedral, kill that heretic bishop as well, hahaha, they’ve killed so many of us, it’s time for them to receive a bit of Eternal Radiance’s punishment!"

The lead strongman nodded, reached into his pocket, gripped something inside, and then plunged deeper into the cathedral.

This Temporary Cathedral wasn’t large, only three floors, each with two or three rooms.

There were priests capable of displaying C-level strength in the cathedral, but overall they weren’t strong. The lead strongman took the initiative while they were activating their power, using his golden spear to kill them quickly.

It appeared that these priests hadn’t anticipated the cathedral being raided and were somewhat unprepared.

There were several intense engagements during this time, leaving several wounds on the lead strongman, but compared to the damage he inflicted, they were insignificant.

Ultimately, in an extremely short span, he reached the door of the deepest room on the third floor.

He looked at the item in his hand, then raised his head.

He had only one chance.

If he seized the opportunity, he could kill the one with the ’B-level’.

He raised his hand, pushing open the room’s door.

Dim light shone from behind the door.

A figure sitting upright appeared in the lead strongman’s field of view.

As those footsteps approached from afar, the young man in a hooded robe turned around, staring down the hallway.

Lena also raised her head, following the young man’s gaze towards the direction he was looking.

Under the dim light, a middle-aged man clothed in a golden-threaded white robe slowly emerged from the shadows at the end of the corridor.

"Cowen? Aren’t you always the secretary at the board of directors for United Industries, following closely by Vincent’s side?"

Seeing the man, Lena’s brows slightly furrowed. She stared at the golden-threaded white robe on the middle-aged man and suddenly realized something, "Are you from the Eternal Secret Teachings?"

"Ladies and gentlemen, although you may have seen me many times in the news, strictly speaking, this should be our first meeting,"

Cowen, in his golden-threaded white robe, gazed at Lena and the youth, smiling, "I am a devout servant of the Eternal Radiance, a follower of the Holy See, you may call me, Archbishop."

"Vincent is already dead?"

Standing beside Lena, the youth bowed his head slightly, his hoarse voice filtering through his hood, the large hood obscuring his face, making it difficult to discern his expression.

Hearing this statement, the first to show surprise was not the middle-aged man, but Lena.

She looked at the youth in astonishment, then lifted her head to look at the middle-aged man.

At this moment, she finally realized why ’Yiluo’ was so certain that United Industries and the Eternal Secret Teachings could very likely already be in alliance.

"Mr. Vincent was a very capable man, but sometimes he appeared too compassionate,"

Cowen slightly shook the golden threads of his white robe, "and he always had some prejudices against us, followers of the Eternal Radiance, so we had to take some necessary ’measures’."

Saying this, he paused in his speech, smiling while looking at the youth bowing his head,

"However, you don’t seem to be surprised by this? Little Mr. Yiluo? Where did you spot the problem? Were you the one who infiltrated the Eternal Divine Nation?"

"This wasn’t difficult,"

The youth’s calm voice responded, "There are directors from the Rockville Energy Group within the Eternal Divine Nation, and while United Industries was manipulating the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s inquiry team incident, there were deliberate attempts to conceal any traces that passed through the hands of Rockville Energy Group,

"This means that United Industries might not be aware that the Eternal Secret Teachings and Rockville Energy Group had already established contact, suggesting that the Eternal Secret Teachings were aware of the Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry team’s movements from the start, and perhaps even intentionally facilitated the plan pushed by United Industries.

"However, the arrival of the investigation team was inherently disadvantageous for you, and obviously you weren’t idle enough to try suicide; this implies that you had other ’plans’,"

The youth paused slightly in his tone, "For instance, to absorb United Industries."

Cowen continued to watch the youth, the smile still present.

"If United Industries forcefully stopped the investigation team’s plan, it would expose your relationship with Rockville Energy Group, raise Vincent’s alertness, and lead to an early clash between United Industries and the Eternal Secret Teachings."

"So you chose another method, by ’advancing’ the investigation team’s plan, not hindering Vincent’s plans at all, letting Vincent lower his guard, thinking he was secure, and then finding a way to steal control of United Industries— at least the control of the armed forces.

"And a necessary prerequisite for this scheme would be that there had to be an ’undercover’ from the Eternal Secret Teachings around Vincent, which is quite plausible given your proficiency in handling such matters through previous incidents related to the Ancient Teachings.

"However, Vincent certainly would not easily hand over the control he acquired to anyone else, not even if he was gullible.

"Thus you needed someone who could ’negotiate’ with Vincent, even someone Vincent might owe a favor.

"This person could not be a native of Wint City,"

The youth paused slightly in his tone, "But I did not entirely anticipate that Vincent would secretly transport a Mercenary Corps into the city."

"You found out about Captain Lutz’s Mercenary Corps?"

Cowen’s expression showed a hint of surprise.

"This wasn’t hard, just needed some common sense, right?"

The youth’s voice remained calm.

Cowen and Lena fell into silence at that moment.

They could not fathom what sort of common sense could lead to such a conclusion.

"Clearly, Vincent prepared to use the power of these Mercenary Corps to block the attack from the Eternal Secret Teachings before the arrival of the investigation team,

"But he did not expect that the attack would come from within.

"These Mercenary Corps were not just randomly chosen by Vincent, but came from Rockville Energy Group, which has close ties with you,

The youth slightly lifted his head, his gaze under the hood looking towards Cowen, "you had Captain Lutz of the Mercenary Corps negotiate terms with Vincent, then, believing he had the upper hand during this negotiation, tricked him into authorizing full control of the armed forces?

"This ’authorization’ naturally couldn’t last long, but it was enough for you to temporarily maintain ’complete control’ over Wint City."

"A brilliant deduction,"

Cowen applauded lightly, his gaze fixed on the youth, "Yiluo, you really are clever."

A hint of a smile curled on his lips,

"Did you come here today just to wait for me intentionally?"